Telefonica is mulling an initial public offering (IPO) for a minority share of its O2 UK unit by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported.

O2 faced an uncertain fate ever since the European Commission blocked CK Hutchison’s proposed £10.5 billion ($13.4 billion) acquisition plans in May 2016, citing concerns over the deal’s impact to UK customers.

Last month Telefonica was linked with a bid to tempt Liberty Global into a merger with O2.

Now it is being reported the company may sell a minority stake in Q4 depending on market conditions, although Telefonica is yet to make a final decision and the IPO could be delayed, or cancelled altogether if O2 ends up being sold.

Telefonica is battling to reduce a debt pile of around €50 billion ($54.4 billion), and a minority stake sale would go some way to alleviating the burden while still allowing it to sell the controlling share at a later date.

In November 2016, credit rating agency Moody’s said Telefonica is unlikely to meet debt reduction targets by December 2017.

The agency downgraded Telefonica after the operator revised its financial strategy to put more emphasis on deleveraging through organic means rather than asset disposals.

Telefonica was also forced to drop plans for an IPO of Telxius in September 2016, 40 per cent of which it ended up selling to global investment firm KKR Group for €1.3 billion.